{"id":487,"date":"2023-08-08T14:30:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/?p=487"},"modified":"2023-08-08T14:30:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:30:25","slug":"internship-in-antwerp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/2023\/08\/08\/internship-in-antwerp\/","title":{"rendered":"Internship in Antwerp"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_487 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_487')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_487').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/intern-abroad\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/08\\\/internship-in-antwerp\\\/\",\"post_id\":487,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"Internship+in+Antwerp\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><ul>\n<li>Business Administration and Engineering: Mechanical Engineering M.Sc.<\/li>\n<li>Belgium, Antwerp<\/li>\n<li>Evonik Industries AG<\/li>\n<li>03\/2023 \u2013 07\/2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1. Application\/Finding an internship<\/p>\n<p>The path to my internship led me though the Unitech program which I can very much recommend.<br \/>\nBecause of that, I will explain the program here shortly. More information about it can be found under<br \/>\nunitech-international.org and via the RWTH where it is listed under the options to go abroad. It is a one<br \/>\nyear long program for engineering students by the Unitech International Society which is a network of<br \/>\nEuropean universities and partner companies. The program usually consists of an exchange semester in<br \/>\nfall\/winter and an internship in spring which are joined by three weeks of additional activities in the<br \/>\nbeginning, the middle and the end of the year. There, students meet, work on projects and are coached in<br \/>\nnon-technical skills such team work or leadership. So overall, you are getting to know an even larger<br \/>\ngroup of people as well as making contacts into the professional world when compared to a normal<br \/>\nexchange. Additionally, it allows for an internship experience abroad, if you want. I am convinced that<br \/>\nwithout Unitech, my goal to do an internship abroad that fitted my study background and interests would<br \/>\nnot have been possible in a comparable way. It created a platform to meet and discuss my goals and<br \/>\ninterests with the participating companies to find the internship.<br \/>\nIt is worth mentioning that (longer) internships are not that common in Belgium during the studies and<br \/>\nhave to be confirmed by the regional government. This seems to ensure that students are not used as<br \/>\ncheap labor. The company needs to hand in an internship plan defining learning goals etc. This was<br \/>\nquickly assessed and accepted, so in my case no problem and I was supported well by the company.<\/p>\n<p>2. Accomodation &amp; Living expenses<\/p>\n<p>The chemical industry cluster in the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, stretching for the<br \/>\ncity for around 30-40km up the river Scheldt to the Dutch border. The companies present there are<br \/>\nconnected to the city by a bus system and dedicated lines for cycling. Antwerp is also beautiful and a<br \/>\ngreat place to live which played a role in convincing me to take on the internship. Thus, it made perfect<br \/>\nsense to search for accommodation in the city, which is also a student city and has a lot of housing<br \/>\nopportunities. Whether you are allowed to take a student housing as an intern depends on the<br \/>\norganization, but I found a place to stay this way and lived the months in a student room with a big shared<br \/>\nkitchen for the whole floor. It was a fairly new private building and living conditions where excellent. Prices<br \/>\nare higher than in Aachen, but I am confident in saying that something decent can easily be found for<br \/>\n500-600\u20ac a month like in my case, with more time also below that.<br \/>\nLiving expenses in Belgium are slightly higher than in Germany, although I spent my time there in an<br \/>\ninflationary period so that when coming back, I had to realise that prices were not same back home to<br \/>\ncompare with. Especially food and stuff you would buy in dm or Rossmann I definitely found more<br \/>\nexpensive and worth bringing from Germany from time to time and as far as possible.<br \/>\nIn terms of taxes, insurance and other expenses, I can only say that as an EU citizen I was able to keep<br \/>\nthe German insurance and paid a relatively small amount of income tax as a student. I have no<br \/>\ninformation on what general rules apply, just my specific case.<\/p>\n<p>3. Everyday life\/ the internship<\/p>\n<p>First of all, Antwerp is not too far away from Aachen, within the EU and with a surprising high share of<br \/>\nGerman speakers, at least among the older generations. From that perspective, cultural differences are<br \/>\nsurprisingly big and were in my view a very positive experience. I experienced people very open,<br \/>\nwelcoming and very good in speaking English. French on the contrary is not as helpful and welcome as<br \/>\nAntwerp is in the Flemish speaking part and not in Wallonia. The differences like the language between<br \/>\nthe different parts of Belgium (also the lack of understanding between Flemish speaking regions) where<br \/>\nvery interesting to learn about.<br \/>\nI worked form 8:00 to 16:45 and took 30 mins by bus before and afterwards that was free and organized<br \/>\nby the industrial hub for commuting workers. Cycling is very popular in Antwerp and with summer<br \/>\napproaching, I also used my bike for the 17km commute along the river. This was not as beautiful as it<br \/>\nmay sound, as the view is dominated by (petro-) chemical industry and container terminals, but<br \/>\nimpressive and excellent in infrastructure for cycling. This goes for the whole city as well, as there is a<br \/>\ngreat well-balanced mixture of modes of transport. Cycling to work is also supported by a certain amount<br \/>\nof money depending on the distance. This would not have been necessary to motivate me, but indicates<br \/>\nthe local will and need to get people away using from cars.<br \/>\nMy work at one of the present chemical industry sites focused on how to achieve sustainable energy<br \/>\nsupply, which very well suited my study background. There are mainly production sites of multi-national<br \/>\ncorporations and it was very impressive as well as a bit intimidating to be part of the production of modern<br \/>\nSociety\u2019s needs for fuels, plastics, nutrition, fertilizers, care products and all other chemical products<br \/>\nconcentrated in one area. I can recommend visiting not only to people with my specific focus on energy<br \/>\nengineering, as it shows the challenges that contradict the notion of just having to transition such an<br \/>\nexisting infrastructure and ecosystem to climate neutrality quickly when ambition, will and the necessary<br \/>\ntechnical solutions are all there. I was allowed to support in projects with the goal to achieve this and it<br \/>\ngave me great insights how this is approached and how my acquired knowledge can be applied.<\/p>\n<p>4. Free time\/tips<\/p>\n<p>I lived in a part of the city called Eilandje, which is in the North of the city and very recently modernized<br \/>\nand built around the old docks that are now too small for modern big ships and mainly used for leasure<br \/>\nboats. This means there is a lot of wide space around the water together with museums, bars and<br \/>\nrestaurants as well as possibilities to spend free time. In contrast, in the central old town you find beautiful<br \/>\nstreets and squares around the cathedral close to the river bank with the Market Square and even more<br \/>\nrestaurants and bars. Between the two parts of the city, there are a lot of student homes and activities so<br \/>\nthat this overall area is probably the best area to stay in Antwerp, although the South of the city is nice as<br \/>\nwell.<br \/>\nCompared to other Western European cities, you will find most of what is a trend and successful brand in<br \/>\nother countries also present in Antwerp. Nevertheless, the restaurant and bar culture is more vibrant and<br \/>\nyoung people seem to be around a lot. Next to the opportunities the city itself has to offer, it is relatively<br \/>\neasy to get to Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the North as well as Brussels, Gent, Brugge or even Paris in<br \/>\nthe South. Even though Antwerp has the second biggest port in Europe, it is still quite a bit to the coast<br \/>\nbut it is probably no problem to go there as well.<\/p>\n<p>5. Conclusion<\/p>\n<p>All in all, I can recommend Unitech or any other path to an internship abroad, even if it is seemingly close<br \/>\nby like Belgium. Belgium to me is a very interesting and beautiful country I would never have discovered<br \/>\nin such a way and my stay allowed for numerous different perspectives and insights I would not want to<br \/>\nmiss. I spent a great time and can recommend the country, the city of Antwerp and the idea to work or do<br \/>\nan internship there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business Administration and Engineering: Mechanical Engineering M.Sc. Belgium, Antwerp Evonik Industries AG 03\/2023 \u2013 07\/2023 1. Application\/Finding an internship The path to my internship led me though the Unitech program [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,160,16,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein","category-belgium","category-business-administration-and-engineering","category-energy-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1437,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}